February: Things to do in the yard and garden

Google Image

Google Image

Here are things you should do in your yard/garden before February finishes .... great weather now until March so get busy and enjoy! These tips come courtesy Lisa Ziegler of The Gardener's Workshop, a mailorder seed and garden tool company and a cut-flower farm in the Denbigh area of Newport News; tour the farm during Historic Garden Week April 21-28 (www.GardenWeek.org). Shop Lisa's site at www.thegardenersworkshop.com.

• Finish your pruning chores now! Dormant time is almost over.

• Get the weeds while they are small! Cool-season weeds like chickweed will carpet the ground in spring; now they are just little baby plants and easily removed with a hoe. To view the easy how-to video with a garden hoe click here.

• Use your garden fork to open the soil outside the drip line of your shrubs and beyond, then mulch with compost. Your shrubs will thank you all next season.

• One inch of compost used as mulch or laid on top of the soil under mulch will feed your ornamental landscape or your lawn for 1 year. No other fertilizers are needed.

• Use shredded newspaper as the carbon/brown matter in your compost bin. It breaks down quickly and we all have lots of it.

• Step out of the box and consider growing something you never have before and learn about it while you have the timelike veggies!

• Plant containers of cold hardy annuals and small evergreen shrubs for a pop of color. Display next to the door you use most.

• Feed your birds. They will return in the summer to eat bad bugs.

• Provide a water source for the birds that is visible from inside your home. Use a birdbath heater to keep it thawed. You will have bird visitors often not seen at feeders. This will provide entertainment for you all winter, as they drink their fill.

• Collect bags of leaves to mulch the pathways and the naturalized areas in your garden. They are free, plentiful and lightweight to handle. If you put several layers of newspaper under the leaves it will prevent most weeds from growing through.

• Don't be too tidy in the garden. Leave flowers heads to go to seed for the birds. Any insects harbored will become a thanksgiving dinner for the birds.

• Remember to scout for hardy annual seedlings in your garden if you planted in the fall last year. Hand weed carefully!

• Mulch your fall-planted garden once the plants are 6-10" tall. Use any organic product that is available en masse to include, but not limited to: bark, leaves, compost and straw.

• Place a birdbath near a window you frequently look out. The variety of birds drawn to water far exceeds those at feeders. We have bluebirds splashing in our baths most mornings in spring and fall. Even a trashcan lid turned over and filled with water will do the job.